We will send 2 extra isopods with your 10 pack in case there are any deaths during shipping. You will receive 12 isopods total.
 
Aquatic isopods have many common names like pond slaters, aquatic sowbugs, water louse, and more. The many different aquatic species closely resemble the famous “Roly-Poly” on land and have made their way into many aquatic environments including the ocean, freshwater ponds, lakes, streams, caves, everywhere! These little detritivores play a major role in the breakdown of dead organic material, especially plant detritus and leaf litter. By consuming this material, the isopod frees up the locked away nutrients in the decaying plant which then become more accessible to other organisms in the food web.
 
Isopods typically live in the substrate of your aquarium but can regularly be seen crawling on plants and looking for fresh algae. If you want to see your isopods out in the open, it's best to keep them without fish. Just like scuds and other micro creatures, they will easily hide out of sight if predators (fish) are around.
 
They will establish a growing population if they have the right kind of habitat to do so. I like using natural materials like dirt, sand, coarse gravel, seed pods and leaf litter. To help raise the water hardness to their preferred level I use a combination of crushed coral chunks, sea shells and a pound or two of aragonite sand for every 10 gallons of water. Since these aquatic isopods seem to love hard water so much I would definitely get a GH and KH test kit to have around. I prefer a liquid test kit over any strip when it comes to testing GH and KH. It is not always easy to predict how different additives (crushed coral, seashells and aragonite sand) will interact with your water over time. You might be surprised by the difference in water hardness from tank to tank when experimenting with different types and amounts of calcium carbonate.
 
Leaf litter is also an important part to successfully keeping aquatic isopods. Not only is it their shelter but is a natural food source that they rely on in the wild. They also love algae, especially the types that grow on the aquarium glass surfaces. I would recommend leaving as much algae on the glass as you can. Maybe only scrap the front. You can supplement their diet with small amounts of veggie scraps like cucumber, squash, green beans, banana, and more. Hard raw veggies can be boiled to soften before serving. Keep in mind, a little food goes a long way! Excessive amounts of food, natural or processed, is the number 1 killer of fish and reason tanks crash. It’s almost always because the water is thick with too many nutrients!